Friday, October 2, 2015

I Read Banned Books and Give Them to the Amish too

I am a librarian and I will not censor. Every year,
books are challenged in schools and in libraries for their questionable
content. The American Library Association monitors these challenged books. So
many wonderful books have been banned, including classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and Gone with the Wind.

As a librarian in Amish Country, books being
challenged is a constant battle, especially those books that I deliver to the
Amish communities with the library's bookmobile. Some of the more conservative Amish do not want their church
members reading anything other than the Bible. I’m not one to tell someone what to
believe, but if a patron comes to me, Amish or English, looking for a book I will find him or her the book he or she want no questions asked. That is my job and calling as a librarian.

One bishop who is particularly vocal about his
disdain for the written word is Bishop Bartholomew Beiler. Beiler has been a
thorn in my side for months as he’s chased my bookmobile from many Amish schoolyards and chastised his members, many of whom are young women, for reading
fiction. Living in Holmes County, Ohio, I have a respect for the Amish, but men like
Beiler, who care more about controlling the members of their churches not sharing
the word of God with them, I have no use for.

I am at my wit’s end with this odious
man, and I have a feeling that things are about to come to a head with him. I will
be ready. I will protect my patrons right to read at any cost.

Censorship in any form is a tough pill to swallow. It is tough to see some attempting to control what others watch, hear, see and learn. My morals and values are mine alone, I would never thrust them on another and don't want others to thrust theirs on me. I would hope that everyone has the abiltiy to choose what they read, watch or listen to on their own.

Welcome

We are the characters--major and minor--who inhabit the pages of some of your favorite cozy mysteries.We're coming out from between the covers and welcoming you into our lives.So grab a nice cuppa, settle in, and learn what happens when our authors aren't looking.